Beyoncé: Artist, Icon, and Now, Most-Awarded Grammy Winner of All Time

The woman who told us all to quit our jobs last summer just achieved one of the highest honors imaginable in her profession: Beyoncé officially became the most awarded artist in Grammys history on Sunday night, winning the Best Dance/Electronic Music Album award for Renaissance after three wins earlier in the evening.

“I’m trying not to be too emotional, I’m trying to just receive this night,” she said when she stepped up to the mic after accepting the award from James Corden (of all people).

“I’d like to thank my parents—my father, my mother—for loving me and pushing me. I’d like to thank my beautiful husband, my beautiful three children, who are watching at home,” she continued, as Jay-Z watched proudly from the audience.

Bey closed out her speech honoring the originators of the genre: “I’d like to thank the queer community for your love and for inventing this genre, God bless you.”

After winning for Dance/Electonic Album, Beyoncé now has 32 Grammys. The previous most-awarded artist was George Solti, a conductor who died in 1997, seven months after winning his final Grammy for best opera recording for “Wagner: Die Meistersinger Von Nurnberg.”

Before the ceremony even began on Sunday, Beyoncé won Best Dance/Electronic Recording for “Break My Soul,” and Best traditional R&B performance for “Plastic Off the Sofa.” She then won her third Grammy of the night—tying with Solti—in Best R&B Song for “Cuff It.”

Bey had nine nominations coming into the evening, giving her 88 total. Only one other artist in Grammy history has 88 noms: her husband.

Still, despite having won Grammys in a range of categories, from Best Surround Sound Album (2015) to Best Music Film (2020) to Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals (2004), Bey still has yet to win two of the big three categories: Record of the Year or Album of the Year. (She won Song of the Year for “Single Ladies” in 2010.) And on Sunday night, the Recording Academy kept that streak going. Though Beyoncé was nominated for both Record and Album of the Year, she lost both to Lizzo and Harry Styles, respectively.